Silver Lining
by alluras-castle
Summary: Several onlookers' observe the relationship between Professor Stein and his son, Thea...such that it is, as time passes.


_Sudden inspiration hit me to write my OC, Thea Stein. Still not sure how I feel about this oneshot, but posting it anyways._

 _Begins in Soul Eater Not!'s timeline and spans through the entire Soul Eater series. (Obviously, there are going to be some gaps.) (And also: it's been a little while since I read the series.)_

* * *

Death hasn't seen them interacting much, but when he does, it's...interesting.

Franken took it with detached interest when Thea had abruptly been sent to the Academy, under his mother's thinly veiled excuse of Thea "getting to know his father" and "Stein meeting his son, finally." Death already knows about Thea—Stein sometimes brought him up, whenever Pandora sent news about him that he felt like sharing out of a not-so-secret paternal instinct.

Death can remember Stein's self-depreciating humor that "the kid's probably better off without a mad man like me in his life." Death can, also, see him trying to build something out of the _seemingly_ one-sided relationship he has with Thea.

Thea came off across, quite easily, as stand-offish and apathetic—not entirely unlike his father. He meets most of Franken's interactions with apparent disinterest or indifference.

But Death knows. He knows there's more to it than what can be observed at a long look, let alone a glance.

They ask each other questions, and respond with mostly honest answers. They hold conversations daily, often impersonal and neutral at worst by nature. They share their opinions with one another easily, in that way Death comes to equate with Steins. Blunt, _there,_ and frankly objective with relative morality, but somehow impartial.

Death watches, now, as Thea sits on a couch he knows Franken bought only because he barely had enough furniture for _himself,_ let alone two people—reading what Death thinks is another book on the topic of souls and the study thereof, or possibly a text about witches and magic, since he seems to have a... _peculiar_ fascination with them. Franken taps away at his computer's keyboard, analyzing more data of what-Death-doesn't-know. What he sees is a rather companionable quiet between two people who aren't always the best as socializing or empathizing, sympathizing, or conforming to "sociably acceptable" levels of bizarreness.

He thinks they're closer than they realize, or acknowledge.

* * *

The first day Tsugumi sees Thea, it's at Deathbucks—later, she learns from Master, that it was his first day in Death City.

She mistook him for meister immediately, despite the rush hour of students getting hot beverages and bagels having abetted; she had wondered if he was waiting for his weapon, but hadn't the chance to ask the ravenette with pale green eyes before her meisters were dragging her into the back to change out of their work uniforms and rush to school. On the way out, she saw him sitting with Master, with a wary kind of look to his posture. Not that she was much good at reading body language, but...

Next time she sees him, he unofficially works there—"to pass the time. And the food isn't half bad either," he shrugs by way of explanation (Master says he isn't the best at social interactions, so the job is a way for him to practice. She thinks it's kind of weird, and kind of admirable even if it wasn't Thea's idea)—and he helps them take orders and helps Master wash the dishes, and frequently nudges Meme in the directions she needs to go with simple orders like "take this to Master," "take this order to that table." His expression is always passive, even when his lips twitch upwards or into a small frown. She never really sees him smile anything past a polite small curve, usually directed at customers.

The day starts out normally...mostly. Thea has a partner now—a scythe, she learns when she asks him about it—so he shows up later than he does most days. But it's only an unofficial job for him, so Master isn't bothered.

Anya tries to boss him around like always— _"Here, take these, Thea."_ she orders, pushing a pad with orders already scrawled to him. His lips twist and he responds with the intent to rile her up, _"But you already have them so well under control, Princess."_ She fumes for a minute, but he takes them anyway, amused and adding, _"But don't worry; I'm feeling generous today."_ Anya only says _"Thank you,"_ —and they fall into a routine. Thea's as distant as always, and she can't help but remarking to Anya they barely know him at all.

The bell rings everytime a customer enters or exits, and Meme keeps wondering what the noise is as the after school rush slows.

When the bell chimes this time, Thea tears a page from his pad and hands it to Meme, whom prods towards Master with a "I'll get them, just take that to Master," and turns to the costumer before Anya or she has the chance.

"Ah, good. I've been looking for you, Thea." the man says.

He and Thea look a lot alike, Tsugumi notes, hair color and...stitches and screw aside, and wonders if they're related while pondering if the screw is real and what is with the stitches.

Thea looks over his shoulder and deadpans, while the platinum blond adjusts his round glasses, "Of course you were. Can't go losing your son, can you?"

The man doesn't seem fazed by the subtle way Thea says it, the way that Tsugumi can't quite put her finger on. "Can't have you getting lost," is his wry response as he straddles the back of a chair he pulls out.

"I guess," Thea says in a decidedly bored voice. "Are you ordering anything?" Bored and impatient.

His father—who she'll later find out is Franken Stein, the greatest meister of Shibusen and... _infamous_ doctor—looks halfway thoughtful for a moment, raising a hand to turn the screw in his head with a _click, click, SNAP!,_ before saying in disinterest, "I'll take a coffee. Black."

Meme ends up dumping the coffee all over him, and Thea looks amused. His father just stares impassively and shrugs about it.

Tsugumi thinks they actually get along, in their own way.

* * *

Tsugumi _knows_ they get along when Thea apologizes, looking almost but not quite sheepish, for his father's prank with not-Eternal Feather's head.

Professor Stein just keeps laughing about their expressions, and she's almost certain Thea's trying hard not to join in. She doesn't know why.

* * *

A year goes by, and while Sid still thinks it's weird how the "sane and black-haired Stein"—which is something he actually calls Thea sometimes, much to his annoyance—has a habit of critiquing their library's books regarding witches, dissecting the information ruthlessly, like his father does his experiments, he notices things.

Thea obviously still isn't huge on the whole "Shibusen student" thing—a mystery for another time Sid supposes—and his continued reclusive habits remind him of Franken when _they_ attended the academy, but his opinion on things have obviously changed and shifted.

Most noticeably, he seems to have better understanding—and maybe even appreciation—for his father, and doesn't seem much fazed by _any_ of even Stein's more extreme habits anymore. He still jokes that it's "horrifying," but Sid doesn't hear any conviction in it. The few times he actually gets to observe the two together, they seem more comfortable than when the now-sixteen year first arrived in a strange town filled with strange people he didn't know. Stein's less unsure of how to go about interacting with a son he hasn't actually known for the first fifteen years of his life, and Thea's more inclined to participate in their relationship rather than stay withdrawn.

Sid likes to tease Stein that he actually makes a pretty great father. Stein stares at him with aloof skepticism, but he just grins and says more solemnly, "No, seriously. You're not a bad dad."

And to himself, he thinks Franken always had the potential, that protective paternal instinct that not many got to see even a _glimpse_ of. Something which his old friend truly does a terrible job of disguising. But he lets that be.

* * *

Maka is outraged when Franken Stein becomes their professor.

He's freaking _nuts_ as far as she's concerned, and every day since he's taken over, they've done nothing _but_ dissections. She's argued about it a few times, but it isn't until Thea says something that it clicks for her, that they're _nuts_ professor with a crazy and horrifying hobby and one of the most naturally prodigious meisters in the class are _father_ and _son._

She feels dumb for not having made the connection sooner; they look eerily similar. Thea just doesn't have his father's badges of insanity or penchant for patchwork-looking clothes and lab coats, instead wearing a combination of gray, white, and black clothes that aren't stitched together, with Gothic cross motifs. His hair's a different color—a stark contrast, really—but they have the same semi-pale skin tone, the same eyes and basic facial structures. Side-by-side, she was sure she'd be able to discern differences, but the resemblance is...remarkably terrifying.

"Are you ever going to run out of things to dissect, Father?" is what he says—asks. He doesn't sound personally affronted, rather a tempered, but genuine curiosity.

Professor Stein grins and the light glints on his glasses ominously.

"I'm so glad you asked, Thea; no."

She genuinely thinks they're both out of their minds after that, no further evidence of insanity necessary for Thea past how unfazed by it he is.

* * *

Marie is unbelievably _shocked_ when she learns Stein has a son.

She is also incomprehensibly concerned when she finds out said son was in the same room as the Kishin when he awoke, and was overwhelmed by Madness. Thea, she immediately learns is his name, is still in the infirmary with Naigus when she and the other death scythes arrive, and Stein is—what's the word? "low-key?"—beating himself up over letting him anywhere _near_ Asura without having thought about the effect Madness could have on him, being the son of someone as susceptible to it as he was.

Marie wants to personally ask about how, exactly, Thea's doing, but she can tell—she wouldn't say so out loud, but she can—that Stein _is_ suffering, too, and not just the guilt of a father who feels like he's inadvertently failed. He has more experience keeping _it_ in check though, she thinks. It's bound to be easier for him.

Spirit's the one who asks about Thea during their meeting with Lord Death—"Stein, how's your kid doing? The Kishin's Madness wavelength hit the both of you pretty hard."—and that's when she learns Thea actually attacked the other students, but Kidd and Black Star subdued him before anyone got hurt.

Stein's answer is, "He's overwhelmed, but he'll be fine."

Marie is assigned as Stein's partner, and she gets to meet Thea when he drops by the infirmary to deliver books and a chocolate bar or six to his son. She's surprised to learn he has a love for chocolate more than she is to see how torn between exhaustion and slipping back into Madness he is. He complains about missing classes, being restricted on missions, having to stay under observation—his partner volunteers for the job so that Thea can retreat to the apartment they share now, rather than staying at the school's infirmary. He eats the chocolate gratefully. _  
_

He doesn't say anything personal to Stein, and Stein doesn't say anything that isn't objective to him either.

She almost doesn't notice it, but Thea starts to say, "Da-" and switches to "Franken," at the start of a sentence, and finishes with a sullen, "...never mind." and a wary and weary glance at her.

Marie doesn't realize it, actually, until later. The next time, a few days later, Stein goes to see Thea, on the day he's being released in fact, she goes to bother Azusa—but inevitably gets lost somewhere along the way. She eventually wanders back to the nurse's office by sheer dumb luck, in time to see the two hug, the embrace tight and emotionally close, before Thea grabs a bag off the bed, _his_ bed, and slings the duffel over his shoulder in such a way that puts his arm in an _almost_ awkward position. She tries to pretend not to have seen the intimate moment when the two walk out, though some part of her is inexplicably relieved to know Stein's capable of such affection, even if it's subtle and private.

* * *

When Spirit hears from Maka, who in turn had spoken to his partner, that Thea's barely slept since the Kishin escaped _two_ _weeks ago_ , he's rightfully worried. Or, so he feels.

He visits Stein and lets him know all about it, making dramatic hand gestures and maybe exaggerating a just little bit—but it's important! Every instinct in his body is screaming to help, and he would without hesitation if it were Maka or he had any idea how to do so. Being Stein's partner, keeping _his_ Madness at a curve, is a lot different from a...less mad sixteen year old being shoved into the dark abyss that is insanity and being told not to drown.

Stein smiles weakly, and it looks forced but Spirit was never good at reading things like that, and simply tells him, matter-of-factly, "Yeah. That's normal." He makes it sound as though it should be expected.

He opens his mouth to argue when Stein reaches up to adjust his bolt for the fifth time in the short duration Spirit's been there, and it occurs to him to prod about how much sleep _he's_ been getting suspiciously.

Franken smiles ruefully, which is enough of an answer for Spirit to feel something akin to pity for both of them.

Like father like son, and this was certainly not something Thea wanted to inherit. Weakness against Madness.

* * *

Joe meets Marie when he gets transferred to Death City, who in turn tells him about Franken Stein's son. Weird, he hadn't known Stein _had_ a kid at all.

Stranger things have happened though.

They only linger on the subject of the Steins because Marie seems especially worried about them both. She's like that, and Joe can tell she's actually quite fond of "Thea" despite how little she seems to know him. She mentions he and Stein look "just alike...sort of," and he chuckles.

When Joe meets the kid in person—far more an accident than anything—he can't help but be surprised.

It's not that he looks like a song lyric Joe's heard—which he'll never let Justin know—because he looks like the embodiment of "I woke up on a Monday, been feelin' pretty wired. I've been wide awake since Wednesday..." (he thinks he's heard Justin play the song before, but that's ridiculous; Justin only has the one song he listens to), which is to say—with a crazed look of sorts combined with sleep deprivation. Joe would be more shocked if he didn't look as such.

No, no. It's his _soul_ that makes him stop.

Even through a soul protect, which in of itself makes him stop, Joe can feel _it,_ and its pull of magic.

He frowns.

Thea narrows his eyes for moment, as if studying him. Ultimately, he ends taking two steps back during which his eyes widen apprehensively, before he all but flees the other direction of the hallway.

Joe tells Lord Death and Spirit; neither of the two seem surprised by the knowledge.

* * *

Soul and Maka go to visit Thea. Luckily for all parties, Black Star is out on a mission—and it's not often Soul is glad their friend isn't there.

But honestly, they don't think Thea would have the energy or patience, or mental stability, to suffer having him there. He still wasn't even showing up for school. Not regularly anyway, and never a full day.

When the duo gets there, it's to find that the professor—whose classes have been taken over by Marie for the time being—is already there and father and son are both in the kitchen, cooking food and drinking what Soul's pretty sure is cranberry apple juice. At some point, Thea off-handedly explained that it was good for the body's health. He isn't a health freak, but he _is_ a meister...sort of. He benefits from it, so whatever.

It's reassuring, Soul guesses, that his partner doesn't have to ride him about taking care of himself.

"Oh, hey, Professor." Maka greats, waving to him.

Stein responds with a _"heya, Maka. Soul!"_ that comes off as a little unreal in its exuberance. Soul waves at him with a toothy grin.

"Didn't know you were going to be here," he says nonchalantly.

Thea flips something in a pan, the food sizzling as he does so; it smells delicious. "I called him." he tells them by way of explanation, though he makes no attempt to explain his motive. Frankly, Soul isn't into prodding at a half-witch's—a _warlock,_ he was called—reasoning. Especially not when struggling with a Madness wavelength, even if he does look like he's getting better.

The professor's lips twitch upwards, and he affectionately reaches out a hand to set on his son's head, and musses his hair.

Dinner is the two generations of Steins discussing mundane things with an air of pseudo-boredom, asking the meister and weapon duo how school and missions are going, and Maka being quieter than usual, lost in thoughts left unshared.

* * *

Thea starts going to school more frequently, and no one is really surprised that he changed his old attire out for a white dress shirt and black tie—which has a shinigami mask set in the center of a Gothic cross brooch—and black cargo pants accompanied by a black-and-white belt—like the tie, it has a Gothic cross and shinigami mask as the buckle—and knee-high black combat boots that can only be described as mildly Gothic.

The change was bound to happen sooner or later.

He tells them he feels a bit more "warlock-y" now, and one of them asks what the difference between a witch and a warlock is anyway. His explanation is short, but rather formal, boiling down to gender and rarity, and something about the style in which their magics function. He uses the personal example that his and his mother's magics are completely different in mechanics.

(Black Star tries to get him to spar with him, but, much to everyone else's relief, Thea passes with an almost sleepy, "Nah...you'd win anyway." Which is probably a lie to some extent, but Black Star just boasts about the fact the Thea admitted~ he'd win in a fight.)

* * *

They even assign Thea a second partner. Another scythe, named Jack.

Who's a jackass, more anti-social and hostile than his meister ever was, and has some serious issues.

His partner—his first partner—still hasn't figured out whose idea it was to assign her and Thea as rehabilitation "officers" for Jack, but really, she's just happy he has to stay at the academy like Crona. She isn't sure she'd be able to resist the urge to strangle either of her partners if there weren't timeouts for her.

(She'll later learn that it was Thea's idea, inspired by his father.)

* * *

When Joe Buttataki dies and Stein is suspected for the murder—because of a cigarette found there, that only Stein smokes—Thea loses a lot of his composure.

Maka notices he's distracted on their training mission, which Lord Death sent them on to exercise his _actual_ soul and build on his partnerships with both weapons.

They to reassure him that Lord Death will figure out what really happened, and that they'll find that Professor Stein is innocent in BJ's murder. He shakes his head, and says more to himself than anyone else, "...he hasn't even smoked since Asura escaped..."

* * *

He tells her, shortly after his father is cleared of the charges, that he's glad she was right.

* * *

Maka's almost mad that Thea has not just one, but two death scythes before her.

Then again, he wasn't the idiot who mistook a cat soul for a witch's soul, and had to start all over. He and his first partner had been close to their quota already, and it hadn't taken him long to catch Jack up. She finds it impressive, even, that he killed the twin witches—Frostbite and Nirvana—while they were infiltrating Arachnaphobia's castle, Baba Yaga, if surprised that he _would,_ now knowing what she did.

Black Star, of course, comments about it, and he flippantly explains that Arachne and any of her "disciples" are considered traitors to witches. For her murdering of metaphorical sisters to create weapons.

But when Soul is finally a death scythe, he helps the two figure it out, and is, by his own admission, still just figuring it out too.

Professor Stein seems to enjoy teaching her with his son's aid, anyway.

* * *

After the battle against Noah, after Thea's subsequent collapse from dueling with his magic before the rest of Team Spartoi emerged from the Book of Eibon—Death advises they place more focus on drawing his soul to stable levels.

And they do.

From his dais, he watches Stein and Thea train extensively in the Death Room.

It's a highly melee-orientated fight, with the younger Stein strongly on the defensive, even distracted with the effort it takes to keep steady his soul. In the end, Franken wins three _long_ matches easily before Thea surrenders, too tired to continue the draining multi-tasking. His father's expression softens as he helps him off the desert floor of the endless space, and Death serves cinnamon rolls and tea, and chocolate candy bars that are wolfed down without much hesitance.

* * *

Kidd takes Thea with him to appeal to the witches for aid.

It only makes sense to him. He's the son of a cat witch and Shibusen's greatest meister, and he's close to both parents. A testament that they _can_ get along, they _can_ work together.

He brings Kim too, for more demonstration. While Kim resents his remark about having an "intimate moment," Thea goes with it whole-heartedly.

When Maba-sama, Queen Maba—whatever one wanted to call her—and her people show up for the Battle of the Moon, it's a relief.

He doesn't tell anyone that he hears Thea breathe out in relief, "I can be both." But he smiles, glad for him.

* * *

Thea and Stein start falling apart around the seams—pun not intended, 'wouldn't be cool to tease like that—when the Madness wavelength spikes.

Which is shame.

It would've been cool, Soul thinks, to see Thea let loose and give into his warlock impulses, drive. They could've used that sort of power with them.

But oh well—he'd rather his friend be down there and mentally intact with his father than up here, sanity crumbling to pieces. (It's pretty awesome to see him teleport though.)

* * *

Marie's nervous, after the battle, after Kidd picks up his father's mantle—

She and Franken are a thing. In of itself, she doesn't think it'd be so bad to just tell him. Thea probably wouldn't mind, probably congratulate them. _  
_

But she's pregnant and they really should have told Thea sooner, rather than having him stare weirdly at Kidd who can sense the child's growing soul already and has announced this (she hopes Thea doesn't hear Stein's "another guinea pig" comment). She tries smiling at Thea, but he has a blank, unreadable expression.

And then his partners nudge him and congratulate him on being an older brother, and Marie and Stein on their relationship.

Thea walks off in a daze, but Franken reassures her he'll be fine. "He just needs to digest this information," he says, grinning.

He's right.

A few days later, Thea drops by the laboratory with Pandora—Marie thinks the black-haired, purple-eyed woman is Thea's mother anyway—to not-so-subtly inquire about how far along they are. Pandora pulls her into a hug, which is unexpected to say the least, and tells her to never leave the baby alone with Franken until they're fifteen.

Thea makes an unamused snort while Stein chuckles.

* * *

 _Title inspired by the song "Silver Lining" by Hurts, gifted to my sis, 12reirei_

 _(The song from Joe's POV is "This Is The Best" by USS)_


End file.
